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AUTO RACING; Busch Races To Second Victory

Kurt Busch became the first two-time Winston Cup winner of the season today, passing Jamie McMurray 12 laps from the end of the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway.

Busch, 24, regained the form he showed late in the 2002 season, when he won three of the last five races.

Since winning last month at Bristol, Busch had slumped a bit, finishing ninth in Texas, 19th in Talladega and 28th in Martinsville. But his victory today over the two-mile oval gave him 5 victories and 3 seconds in his 15 starts.

''We went on a little slide,'' he said. ''No biggie. We just struggled a little bit. Today, we put together a great effort.''

Busch led briefly in the middle of the race and stayed close to the leaders for most of the 250-lap event. Meanwhile, McMurray, Bobby Labonte and Rusty Wallace battled for the top spot most of the second half.

McMurray and Labonte, who swapped the lead several times in the late going, were ahead of Busch when the last of eight caution flags came out after Dale Jarrett hit the wall to start a nine-car accident on Lap 230.

Busch and Wallace took advantage of the situation to pass Labonte.

Wallace tried hard to track down the leaders after the ensuing restart on Lap 238. On the second lap after the green flag waved, Wallace, who has gone 72 races without a victory since winning here in 2001, dived low on the banked oval and nearly passed McMurray and Busch.

But Wallace's Ford got a little high in the second turn, and Busch nosed under him and drove past both Wallace and Labonte to take the lead for the first time since Lap 145.

Busch pulled steadily away as Labonte and Wallace raced side by side for second. Labonte finished second by a few feet but was 2.294-seconds, about 20 car lengths, behind Busch's Roush Racing Ford.

Busch, who finished second to Jimmie Johnson here last season, said: ''This makes up for what we did last year. We came up a bit shy.''

Kenseth, Busch's teammate, stayed in front of Earnhardt in the Winston Cup standing, but his lead was reduced from 51 to 44 points. Jeff Gordon, who finished 11th today, remained third, with Busch moving from fifth to fourth.

A different driver had won in each of the first nine races, and Busch's victory left intact the record of 10 consecutive different winners at the start of the season, set in 2001.

Tony Stewart, the defending Winston Cup champion, led 100 of the first 128 laps before driving slowly to the garage with a broken rod in his engine. Stewart and McMurray were locked in a battle for the top spot, swapping the lead several times before smoke and oil began pouring from Stewart's No. 20 Chevrolet.

''He was the first guy to come up and challenge,'' Stewart said of McMurray. ''I wasn't just going to let him go. It was the most fun I had all day, was racing Jamie.''

The pole-winner Steve Park brought out the first yellow of the day when he knocked Ryan Newman hard into the wall. Both drivers eventually got back into the race, but Park finished 40th and Newman 42nd. --------------------

Crash Kills Two Fans

PERRIS, Calif., April 26 (AP) -- Two sprint cars crashed during a race at the Perris Auto Speedway, sending one hurtling into the stands and the other into the track's infield, where two bystanders were struck and killed today.

The driver of the car that flipped into the stands had minor injuries, said Jeff Delahunty, a spokesman for the Riverside County Fire Department. Paul Bagley, 74, of Hesperia, and his wife, Helen, 72, were killed in the accident.